Rare katydid slain by wasp

July 29, 2009

An official with the Ohio Department of Wildlife said a rare pink katydid that was slated to go on display at the Ohio State Fair has been killed by a wasp.

Jim McCormac of the Ohio Division of Wildlife said the katydid, discovered July 19 at the Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area in Wyandot County and slated to go on display at a fair, which began Wednesday, was killed after a parasitic wasp injected its eggs into the insect and the offspring ate their way out, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch reported Wednesday.

We had hoped that it might take a few weeks before the grubs inside managed to kill her, but not the case, unfortunately, McCormac said.

Wil Hershberger, a West Virginia nature photographer and the author of The Songs of Insects, said only about one in 500,000 katydids are pink. The insects also come in blue, yellow and green.